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Melania Trump and Alexa shake up America’s most popular baby name list

New data shows that when it comes to naming infants theres a Trump bump and an Amazon drop

It’s easy to mock celebrities for the outlandish name options. Especially when Bear Grylls, with typical woodland folksiness, names his kids Marmaduke and Huckleberry. Or Ciara and Future, dedicated nine months of choosing time, objective up calling their son, er, Future.

Ordinary Americans tend to play things safer. New data released by the social security administration shows that the top names in the country in 2017 were Emma and Liam.

The more interesting data be coming back the fastest-growing newborn names. The girl’s name Melania, for example, has jumped 720 places and entered the top 1,000 names for the first time. Presumably it’s diehard Trump country that are naming their daughter after the first lady, although Donald hasn’t seen a similar bump: perhaps the rise in homage-naming from Trump advocates has been offset by horrified liberals who might have otherwise not had an issue with it – I’m sorry, I know your grandpa was called Donald Donaldson, but we can’t, we just can’t .

The fastest-growing female name is Ensley, up 1,461 places from 2016. The bump is likely down to distressed Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans, who named her daughter Ensley in the early stages of 2017( although it was was far from the perfect birth, Ensley tested positive for marijuana on the working day she was born which led Evans to be investigated by Child Protective Services ). Demonstrating that names can enter the consciousness even through ignominy, the fastest-growing boy’s name was Wells, with many of 2017′ s newborns conceived during the Wells Fargo scandal in which illegal sales practices led to the ousting of the bank’s CEO. Kehlani was another of the most significant rises, jumping from 869 to 552 in the rankings, presumably influenced by the R& B singer’s rising star.

Not every instance of a name becoming more prominent have contributed to an increase in baby naming, though. Since 1985 “Alexa” has become an increasingly common girl’s name, rising up the rankings almost every year and eventually breaking into the top 40 in 2006. But since 2015, and the release of the Amazon Echo which users have to call “Alexa” to activate, it’s sharply fallen down the charts and is now at 65.

But what’s it like for people who are already stuck with their name, whose mothers couldn’t possibly have been aware that their child would later have to share the moniker with an AI robot who can order toilet roll for you?

Alexa Scordato is the VP of marketing at a tech company. She must have been pretty thrilled when she snagged the twitter handle @alexa but now she tells the presence of the Echo in her life is” less than ideal “. Her mentions feed is filled with people mistaking her for the AI assistant.

Dragon Energy (@ bootsandchicken)

Ordered Echo dot so that Alexa can randomly laugh in the midst of the night and freak the fuck out of my family I’m counting on u @alexa

Alexa Fitzpatrick is a New York standup comedian who tells she first started noticing other children being called Alexa when the 80 s supermodel, and subject matter of Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, Christie Brinkley, named her daughter Alexa.” A few years later, for the first time in its history, I’d hear my name, turn around, and ensure a mother scream at her toddler .”

Now though, she says, it’s the Amazon device that creates disarray.” I would utterly never own an Alexa because it’s way too annoying. Every hour I call a friend who has one, it turns on .”

The problem with naming your child something straightforward is it’s bound to have other connotations down the line. All these Emmas and Liams aren’t going to seem so normal when, in 2024, Liam Payne becomes a flat-earther and operates for office and “Emma” is the name of first sex robot be available at Best Buy. The only way to play it genuinely safe is to name your child something that’s already a thing. Future is actually a pretty good shout.